I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Bad Things Happen Here by Rebecca Barrow Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books on June 28, 2022
Genres: YA Mystery
Pages: 352
Source: the publisher
Format: ARC
My Rating:
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Blurb:
I Killed Zoe Spanos meets The Cheerleaders in this haunting mystery about an island town with a history of unsolved deaths—and a girl desperate to uncover the mystery behind it all.
Luca Laine Thomas lives on a cursed island. To the outside world, Parris is an exclusive, idyllic escape accessible only to the one percent. There’s nothing idyllic about its history, though, scattered with the unsolved deaths of young women—deaths Parris society happily ignores to maintain its polished veneer. But Luca can’t ignore them. Not when the curse that took them killed her best friend, Polly, three years ago. Not when she feels the curse lingering nearby, ready to take her next.
When Luca comes home to police cars outside her house, she knows the curse has visited once again. Except this time, it came for Whitney, her sister. Luca decides to take the investigation of Whitney’s death into her own hands. But as a shocking betrayal rocks Luca’s world, the identity Whitney’s killer isn’t the only truth Luca seeks. And by the time she finds what she’s looking for, Luca will come face to face with the curse she’s been running from her whole life.
My Review
I had a little trouble getting into this one at first because it was third person point of view, and that’s not my favorite type of story. However there were things in the story that kept me going. It isn’t really a curse/horror type of story in the way it might sound, because really it is more of a murder mystery thriller. As Luca tries to solve her sister’s murder, she learns a lot about her small town and about the people she thought she could trust. There were a few little bits and pieces we got about the past deaths that fed into the curse legend that made me believe the story might go a little differently than it did. There were characters that kind of showed up towards the end that played more into the final story than one would expect from how late they appeared. I would maybe have liked more about them earlier in the story, even if they did have parts that fit the puzzle pieces together. Another character that seemed to be more of a major player in the end didn’t quite get what I feel like made sense for her part or her reasoning for things she did. Not a bad story overall, but won’t go on a top YA thriller list for me either.
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Third person is real tough to write. I tend to go with first. I like the idea of family members solving mystery’s and may look at this book.
It wasn’t a bad story at all, lots of twists and turns and definitely a surprise at the end!
Sounds intriguing. I think the things you mentioned would kind of “bug me” too, if you will, but it does seem like an enjoyable mystery!
Will be one I share with my students for sure.